How to Make Your Tagline Stand Out

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A "tagline" is a catchphrase or slogan, usually used in advertising on commercials, print ads or packaging. A great tagline can help a product by sending a message, highlighting an attribute or conveying an emotion about a product or service. Great taglines capture the attention of a wide audience -- they’re memorable, define and differentiate the business and can help your customers identify with and keep your business top of mind.

Creating an effective tagline doesn't have to take a million-dollar marketing budget. You can leverage a creative crowdsourcing community or you can come up with one on your own. Here's how.

1. Make it unique. Unsuccessful taglines often are too generic. If your competitor can use your tagline, you should keep working on it until you find something that only you can use.

2. Make it simple. You wouldn’t want to have a complicated company name, so why would you create a complicated tagline? A good way to test for simplicity is to ask your friends, family and strangers whether they understand what your company does after they see or hear your tagline.

3. Make it concise. The best taglines explain what your company does and are short. Aim for no more than five words.

4. Make it timeless. As tempting as hip taglines are, they will quickly become dated. The most famous taglines have survived the test of time – they’re simple and timeless.

5. Keep it consistent. One mistake companies make is to regularly change their tagline. Wrong! This can lead to confusion and can dilute your company’s messaging and positioning. If your tagline works, stick with it.

6. Keep the focus on your audience, not on your company. The most memorable taglines are about your customers, not your company. By placing focus on your customers you’ll create a stronger brand association.

7. Keep it relevant to your company’s audience. Use your tagline to identify what you do and to identify the benefit to your customers.

8. Make sure it matches your other branding. A logo is not the company’s brand. A logo, like a tagline, helps define your brand. Make sure that the style, voice, and other elements of your tagline match the style, voice and other elements of your logo design.

10. Inject appropriate personality. Insurance companies speak with a different voice than Internet companies. Keep in mind your company’s voice and personality, and make sure that the tagline reflects your brand personality.

Mike Samson is the co-founder of crowdSPRING, www.crowdspring.com, and resides firmly at the bottom of the company’s ping-pong totem pole. Prior to starting crowdSPRING, the world's No. 1 marketplace for buyers and sellers of creative services, Mike was an Emmy Award® nominated Producer and Production Manager in the film and television production industry. Around the office, Mike is known for randomly belting out television theme songs from the fifties.